Ioan Gruffudd dealt new blow in bitter divorce battle as he attempts to make his restraining order against ex-wife Alice Evans permanent

A month ago, Ioan Gruffudd revealed shocking texts from his children, apparently begging him for financial help as they were being evicted from the home they share with his ex-wife, Alice Evans. 

Ioan, 51, claimed that the messages were part of an ‘ongoing campaign of harassment’ by the actress, who was made subject to a restraining order in 2022, and that they hadn’t really been sent by his children.

However, Alice, 57, denies harassing him, stalking him or contacting him in any way.

Now it can be revealed that his bid to prove that he is the victim of harassment has sustained a serious legal blow.

Ioan wants to make his restraining order against his ex-wife permanent but the well-respected lawyer who has been representing him in the DVRO (Domestic Violence Restraining Order) matter has quit the case.

Matt Russakow has filed a motion to be ‘relieved’ as counsel and ‘requests that the court grant this motion because there has been an irreconcilable breakdown of the attorney-client relationship.’

Mr Russakow did not respond to requests to comment on just what has caused that ‘irreconcilable breakdown’ this week.

Mr Russakow, a Loyola Law School graduate who has won numerous awards and has been practising for 22 years, had legal papers served upon Gruffudd, according to the motion.

Now Gruffudd faces a scheduling conference in September and a mediation settlement conference in December over the divorce.

If he and Alice cannot reach an agreement on child and spousal support and whether the restraining order gets scrapped or extended then the divorce will come to trial.

Gruffudd’s attorney in the financial wranglings is still in place – Mr Russakow was just looking after the bid to extend the DVRO. It’s not clear whether Gruffudd will hire another lawyer or opt to represent himself.

The Fantastic Four and Hornblower actor attended court last month with new wife Bianca Wallace, who is pregnant. He and Bianca, an aspiring actress, appear to have met in 2020 when she was an extra on the TV drama Harrow filmed in Australia. He left Alice in January 2021 and he and Bianca went public with their romance in October 2021.

Bianca strongly denies that there was any romance between them when he was still married.

Ioan and Alice met on the set of 102 Dalmatians and have been legally divorced for two years.

Alice has full custody of the children and the three of them are living in modest circumstances in the suburb of Encino in the San Fernando Valley, having left their apartment in Beverly Hills after being unable to afford the rent.

Ioan said in his legal filing – which included a number of texts from Ella, 15, and Elsie, 11 – that he believed Alice was behind the distressing messages. 

One text to Gruffudd from daughter Ella read: ‘You left us and now you can’t provide for us.

‘You need to get a job daddy. Looking after your girlfriend is not a job. You are a father who has abandoned his children and doesn’t see them or talk to them. You don’t even send Christmas presents. It’s pathetic and everyone sees you.

‘Ps if there is enough money for us never to become homeless then why aren’t you helping us out? You hate mummy more than you love us.’

Both sides are pleading poverty, with Alice saying that it is simply not possible to make ends meet on the existing payments from the Ioan, which comprises $3,000 per month in child support and $1,500 a month in spousal support.

In a written statement to court, backed by documentation, she says she owes money to utility companies, and defaulted on the $6,500 a month rent at their previous apartment in Beverly Hills, which led to her eviction. She also owes $35,000 to her lawyer.

He is seeking to reduce the payments and says that it isn’t possible to find more or better paid work.

Ioan has also contended in legal papers that he wants to make the three-year restraining order, which he was granted in August 2022, last a lifetime. It says that she must stay away from him and Bianca, and bans her from speaking about them, including in interviews or on social media.

It was granted after Alice sent hundreds of abusive text messages and emails. One observed: ‘Some vixen has your nuts between her veneers.’

In a legal filing last year Alice wrote of her regrets at the behaviour, and said that she had not contacted him in years.

She wrote: ‘I understand why the Court issued the DVRO, and I wish I had never sent the messages or published the social media posts.

‘I was acting out of emotional anguish caused by the unexpected end of our marriage and Ioan’s rather quick public announcement of a new romantic relationship on social media, which our eldest daughter discovered via an Instagram post.’

But when asked how many times he believed the order has been breached by his ex since it was filed Ioan indicated: ‘Approximately 5,000 times.’

That would amount to an average of 138 times a month – or four times a day. Alice denies that this is the case. Ioan believes that his ex-wife has been harassing him mostly through anonymous Twitter accounts but also claims she has physically stalked him.

She hit back: ‘There is absolutely no evidence of stalking…I have no idea where he and his wife live, nor do I have any interest in stalking them. This is plainly ridiculous.’

She also denies Ioan’s contention that she has made herself homeless in June in order to make him look bad, which she says is simply absurd.

There was an ugly incident in 2023 during a custody visit when Ella first met her father’s new girlfriend.

She said that she hadn’t wanted to meet Bianca, and Ioan said in court documents that Ella had reacted furiously to Bianca’s presence and vandalised the apartment.

The teen applied for a restraining order against her father which was not granted.

Alice appeared to have indicated that she wants to move on and attain a state of peace with Ioan and Bianca. After they announced her pregnancy in May it was reported that she was ‘fuming’, but Alice quickly said this was not the case.

Writing on Instagram, she said: ‘I am not fuming. Why on earth would I be? As for those who sent me nasty messages or made nasty comments online please remember that a baby announcement is a beautiful thing that brings much happiness and you’re sullying it with your hate. Shame on you. The baby deserves better.’